ThinkBlog

I’ve been thinking lately about how hard it is to meditate in the Christian sense—to meditate in actual prayer, as opposed to just going through the motions of insincere rote incantations. A friend and I were discussing this, in fact: it’s really hard to concentrate on how great God is because mere intellectual assent gets in the way so often. When we are commanded to dwell on God’s sovereignty, it’s not a matter of saying the words that acknowledge that this hypothetical being and-or great commander of the universe is in control. He’s not a Greek god satisfied with rote prayers and insincere libations poured out before Him just to appease His greatness. No, we are commanded to get a grip on Hs actual greatness in terms of what that means for our lives, which is at once terrifying, humbling, and comforting—and it’s the first thing in what we call the Lord’s Prayer! Here’s to making that kind of meditation first priority.

I’ve been thinking lately about how hard it is to meditate in the Christian sense—to meditate in actual prayer, as opposed to just going through the motions of insincere rote incantations. A friend and I were discussing this, in fact: it’s really hard to concentrate on how great God is because mere intellectual assent gets in the way so often. When we are commanded to dwell on God’s sovereignty, it’s not a matter of saying the words that acknowledge that this hypothetical being and-or great commander of the universe is in control. He’s not a Greek god satisfied with rote prayers and insincere libations poured out before Him just to appease His greatness. No, we are commanded to get a grip on Hs actual greatness in terms of what that means for our lives, which is at once terrifying, humbling, and comforting—and it’s the first thing in what we call the Lord’s Prayer! Here’s to making that kind of meditation first priority.